


Project Procreation

by charliedee



Category: Fallout 3
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Drama, F/M, Next-Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-11
Updated: 2014-09-09
Packaged: 2018-02-12 15:59:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2115954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charliedee/pseuds/charliedee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Population numbers in Vault 101 were dwindling, so the last resort, Genetic Pairing Program, will be implemented. Couples are forced to fill their quota of four children to help keep their residents from inbreeding. FLW never saw her one and only pair to be the man that tormented her through the years. No will not be taken as an answer. Language / adult themes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

They were so used to the regulated vault routine, so when the intercom tapped into their ears loudly with the Overseer's stern voice saying there was a vault meeting, they exchanged glances before putting away their work. The meeting was to take place in approximately ten minutes, so with that, Janis sighed and saved her notes on her terminal with a simple click. "Dad, do you know what this is all about?" She glanced over her shoulder as her father, James, was bust helping a patient before the deadline, and that patient just so happened to be a badly scrapped up ' _Serpent King_ ,' Butch DeLoria.

She simply ignored him as she always did, because through the years of his extensive tormenting it was the only thing you could do because any reaction you gave him would only add fuel to his fire. He eyed her from where he sat atop the metal medical examination table, her father finishing a quick stitch on a small knick on his collarbone. "You'll find out in a few minutes, sweetie." He answered through his teeth - she knew not to bug him while he was focused but she didn't really want to walk into a vault meeting and be completely surprised. She could see from the corner of her eye Butch giving her that signature jerk smirk, supposing it was because he saw her and her fathers relationship as a _daddy's little girl_.

"Alright." She stood up from the desk chair, straightened some notes on the surface, and strode over to the doorway, pressing the green button to slide the door open. "I'll be back when the meeting is over."

James grunted in response, cutting off the little loose threads on the stitches as the door closed behind her. Janis made her way down the hallway, a few residents walking together in a cluster as they made their way to the common room, chattering about as if this meeting was not fishy at all. She trailed them until she stopped quietly behind the Overseer, who was sternly speaking with his daughter in the doorway to the common room, Amata only nodding in a response, her head held low.

Once he left inside the room Amata sighed and leaned up against the wall, eyes looking up at the ceiling in deep thought. "Hey - Amata!" Janis waved a hand in front of Amata's face until she snapped out of it, forcing a famous fake smile she had for when she wasn't up to par. "Do you know what's going on? I don't ever remember having a vault meeting." It was even more suspicious that Amata looked more distressed than she usually was - and that was never a good sign, so a knot formed in her stomach.

"Oh, it's nothing.. Come on, let's go inside."

Janis nodded, swiveling on her heels and stepping into the slightly darkened atrium alongside her best friend, who directed them to the back of the room. Plastic vault-tec issued chairs were lined up in formal rows facing a metal podium. They sat in the back row, apologizing as they quickly shuffled passed some residents on their way into their row, finally taking their seats. She squinted as she stared up at the front, Alphonse pulling down a large white projector screen for some sort of presentation. "This is weird."

"Tell me about it." Amata wasn't all there, Janis could tell. She was trying her best to upkeep her regular personality but Amata was never a good actress or liar. Her fingers fidgeted on her lap, she was biting her bottom lip, and her brows were knitted together with concern. As the room filled with more bodies, the chatter grew louder, still, most people were oblivious to what was coming, hell, she knew she was going to be surprised.

Alphonse tapped the microphone that was attached to a small stand atop his podium, sending small fuzzy noises to hush the crowd. "Now, if we can begi-" His eyes strayed to the side as three bodies coolly entered the atrium.

"Stupid tunnel snakes." Amata rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest, all eyes now wandering over to the trio who swaggered across in front of everybody, Butch of course in the lead with a stupid grimace on his face and his comb in his hair. They took the three available seats a row in front of them and off to the right.

"Now, if there will be no more interruptions." Alphonse looked around the room, specifically waiting for a Tunnel Snake outburst, but as the room was dead silent except a few whispers, he cleared his throat and picked up his cards. "Now.. I'm sure we have all been debriefed on our Vaults history, why we're here, our purpose in this vault, why we are so important to the Vault's future.." He stepped aside with the microphone and let the slideshow begin to play, a slow start at first with crackling noises emanating from the machine but several seconds later it played perfectly fine. What played were the usual slides of the End of the World, the bombs, the birth of the vault, blah blah blah. "Vault 101 is one of the smaller manufactured vaults, thus leading to a smaller population, as you all have noticed. This was never a problem in the past; however, it is proving to be something of note now. Population over the years have dwindled at an astonishing rate and the simplest way I can put this - is that if we do not do something about this, in a few generations times there will be no one left."

In a hushed tone, Janis glanced over to Amata, who looked increasingly stressed out. "Amata.. What's going on?"

"All I know is from what I saw on my fathers terminal-"

"Wait, what?"

"I only know of the plan-"

"What plan?" Janis gently gripped her friends forearm and Alphonse's voice thundered in the room.

"Vault-tec always has a plan for us." He began as he glanced down at the cards in his hands he had yet to read from. " _'In case of small breeding pool due to diminishing population Procreation Plan must be set into motion. If plan requirements are not met, further inbreeding will occur and result in stunted residents. Head Vault Physician_ , in our case Dr. Hobbs, _will conduct the Genetic Pairing Program on main terminal located within Physician's office. The Genetic Pairing Program, or commonly known as GPP, will study through the genes from the available gene pool, picking out the 'weak links' and finding the most compatible gene to help it grow and nourish. When matches are made, the female and male that have the compatible genes will then take on the responsibilities of an adult and accept what needs to be done, those being conceiving and bearing children that will be genetically superior. With this advantage, future population of the vault will flourish - all because the wonderful residents that are part of GPP lent their bodies to science - and for the betterment of Vault 101!_ '"

Everybody looked absolutely horrified. Amata ashamed, Janis with her jaw hung wide, the cursing of the Tunnel Snakes, the gasping from the group of girls in the front. "My father knew..." Janis whispered almost inaudibly as she scanned the floor beneath her boots, brows burrowed, face blanched, fists trembling with both anger and shock. "Amata.. When you saw your fathers terminal, did you see the pairs...?"

She shook her head, eyes also affixed to the not so interesting floor. "No, I only caught a glimpse of the plan before my father realized I saw it and rushed me away. I think the pairs are only stored on your fathers terminal."

"Hm." She tapped her chin in deep thought. "That would make sense. There was a seemingly broken file stored in a random location and when I clicked on it repeatedly it would require administrators password. I asked my dad about it and he told me to leave it alone, so I did just that.."

Alphonse cleared his throat again from his podium and the loud murmuring died down, all but one of Wally Mack's outbursts. "This is a load of shit!"

"Thank you for indulging us, Mr. Mack." He drawled with a slight shake of his head. "This may seem sudden and it may seem drastic, but if we do not implement this plan now the future of our vault is in danger. It just so happens that it is this generation that has to buckle down and accept it. Now, here are the numbers. _'If Vault population is below 150 fully healthy residents, female and male gene carriers must resort to the minimum of two children, both of which must be up to standard health requirement - if in case a child is born genetically inferior than expected, female and male must bear another healthy child to fill their quota. If Vault population drops lower than 100 to 50 residents,_ which is our current state, female _and male must bring forth minimum of four children to the vault. These minimums must be reached before the female reaches the age of 35 to avoid possible complications.'_ So that means any couples here that thought they have finished having children, may be required to bear more children until their quota is filled, that is if you are 35 and younger."

"Oh my God.." Janis thickly gulped as her heart raced, thinking of all the possible outcomes. "This isn't fair Amata!"

"I know, I know.. But there's nothing we can do about it. There are penalties for not obeying the plan."

"This is penalty enough." Janis leaned against the back of her chair and crossed her own arms over her chest, slowly shaking her head to herself. She caught the eyes of her father through her strawberry blonde hair. He looked endlessly apologetic. She knew he wanted to tell her desperately, but throughout her life she'd always encountered her father and the Overseer in a fight - so she could understand if he needed to keep this under wraps for his own good.

As the slideshow finished, it was her father who took to the podium next, clearing his throat nervously as he brought forth a pristine sheet of white paper, just about the same white as his face currently was - or anybody else who was in shock, which was everyone. "Well then, let's get started on those pairs. I will list the available gene pool options in alphabetical order. Almodovar, Amata. DeLoria, Butch. Gomez, Freddie. Hannon, Paul Jr. Hobbs, Janis. Kendall, Christine. Kendall, Monica. Mack, Stevie. Mack, Susie. Mack, Wally. Wilkins, Janice. Wilkins, Jim." James drew in a deep voice, eyes flicking up to his daughter for a split second before continuing. "Again, by alphabetical order. Amata paired with Wally."

Janis quickly looked over at her friend with a horrified expression - this was bad. Of course her best friend would be paired with an awful tunnel snake! They'd always sexually harass her, and now this? Amata's eyelids slowly closed, her bottom lip sucking in angrily. "Of course." She bit out. "Of course it had to be a _tunnel snake_."

Janis looked right back at her father, and out of the corner of her eye she could see Alphonse rubbing the bridge of his nose. Her only hope now would be Jim Wilkins, Stevie Mack, and Freddie Gomez, although the latter was recently spotted hanging around with the tunnel snakes. James cleared his throat uneasily. "Butch paired with Janis."

And here she thought her best friend was going to have a hard time. She slumped into her chair like a melting marshmallow, face frozen in shock, disgust filling her entire being, an arm wrapping itself around her shoulders and Amata's voice filling her ears. "Oh God.." Her friend had whispered with a quivering lip, her free hand cupping her mouth. "I'm sorry Janis-"

"I got paired with Butch?" She murmured, thoroughly confused. "I can't be paired with him, Amata - I just can't!"

Amata gave her a sympathetic look before turning back toward the front where the next pair was being read. She let her eye wander to the right, where the three tunnel snakes were sitting on the ends of the row. Butch sat in the middle of the two, his arms resting on the backs of Wally and Paul's chairs, his face covered by Paul's head. But she could clearly see the shaking of his head and the whiteness in his knuckles as he clenched the top of the chairs. "Freddie paired with Monica."

She could care less about the pairs that followed. Her life was coming to a halt and she was expected to just sit here and obey? The corners of her lips curled into a frown. "Paul paired with Christine... Stevie paired with Janice... Susie paired with Jim."

A few moments later her father began to list the residents of the vault still under the age of thirty-five and needing to contribute to the vault's success, one of those being Ellen DeLoria, who was surprisingly not as drunk as she usually was. She merely shook her head and looked down at the floor, while it was Butch who spoke for her. He took to his feet abruptly and pointed an accusing finger to James and the Overseer. "You can't make her do that shit!"

"Butch, if you could please sit down-" Alphonse stepped front and motioned for him to take a seat but Butch refused, so like him.

"Like hell I'm gonna sit down!" He spat angrily. "You guys are fuckin' nuts!" It was no surprise that Butch and his mother were on rocky terms, what with her alcoholism, so in short he was very protective over her and kept their life immensely secretive. It was no shocker when he stormed out of the room with a huff.

"He is going to be the father of my future children.." She shuddered inwardly, a cold shiver running through every vein and cell in her body, a vile feeling in her stomach. "If he's abusive normally.."

"No no, Janis, you can't think like that.." Amata stuttered nervously, fumbling to find the right words to help soothe her friend. "Sure he's the biggest jerk in this damned vault, but abusive toward his own children he wont be... I'm sorry, I just can't promise you you'll be safe from his wrath."

Wasn't there an unspoken rule that consisted of a boy not being able to hit a girl? She and almost everybody else that wasn't in his gang were their little punching bags, and as they grew older it wasn't just punches and kicks thrown their way, it escalated into actual beat downs, choking out, and cuts with their illegal and always confiscated switchblades. Thankfully since she was her fathers intern she could patch herself up, and even everybody else so the Overseer would never find out - if he found out it would be more harm to them than it would to the perpetrators. If she were to share an apartment she knew she'd be in for some beatings within the confinements of her own, supposedly safe home with no one to protect her.

When the Overseer concluded the session, Janis made sure she was the first one to bolt out of that room while everybody stayed like they wanted to chat it up like nothing was wrong. She drug her fingers through her wavy blonde hair with a very audible groan, throwing her back up against a wall adjacent to her and her fathers apartment. It was times like these where she wanted to leave and never return, but she had no place to go. The vault door was sealed shut and it seemed like these ruled were to be heavily enforced, so there was no real way of weaseling out of this one.

She heard a snort down the hall. She peered through the curtain of hair and saw Butch near his own apartment, leaning up against the wall with one foot on the wall, one hand holding a cigarette, while his other was stuffed into the pocket of his leather jacket. She tried to pay him no mind, but she was left with two courses of action. Be the bigger person and go into her apartment, or go over there and tear him a new one. The latter seemed more relieving but she was always the bigger person in situations like these, so she sucked it up and pushed herself away from the wall.

"You should be overjoyed, Poindexter." He said through clenched teeth, taking in a long drag of his cigarette. When he finished and she looked over her shoulder at him, he tossed the still lit half smoked cig to the ground and crushed it beneath his boot in an almost threatening manner.

Her apartment door was so close by - she could say what she needed to say and quickly lock it before he could storm over to her to pick a fight. "No Butch, I think you're the one that should be overjoyed, and thankful for that matter, that they could actually find someone that would make up for your extensively long list of genetic shortcomings!"

He pressed his lips into a thin line, eyes darkening, brow lowering. "Yeah? Like what? You're ugly - I'm not!"

"You're stupid, and I'm not, _hairdresser!_ "

"I'm strong, and you're **_weak_**!" He snarled, taking a threatening step forward and that's when James had intervened, thankfully. He grabbed his daughters arm and pulled her into the apartment, quickly shutting the door behind them.

"Dad!" She bawled dramatically, throwing herself up against the wall in their apartment, burying her face into the sleeve of her jumpsuit. "You _knew!_ You _knew_ I was going to be paired with him!"

He cautiously raised his arms. "Sweetie, there was nothing I could do about the pairings, it just so happened both of your genes would mesh well." He truly looked and felt like he had betrayed his only child, his sweet little princess, wanting to reach out and comfort her but he knew better than to do so when she was in such a state.

"You know what he's like! I can't - I just can't! He's an awful person!"

"Janis.. Oh I wish I knew something that would make you feel remotely better.." He trailed off as he licked his lips. "All you would have to do is have children, and they're the only things you'd ever have to pay attention to."

"I don't want any of my future children related to him. I wouldn't want them to even know his name.. He'd only mess up their lives."

"We'll see what happens when the apartment situation is dealt with. Butch has already turned eighteen, so in a month and a half when you turn eighteen you're going to be moved in together. If his tormenting persists we will get something worked out, I promise you." He sighed as she stormed off into her bedroom, letting her door slide closed behind her without a further word to him.

* * *

_x. Leave a comment if you enjoyed? It would be awesome! story also on my fanfiction account.  
_


	2. Chapter 2

Her eighteenth birthday was something she always looked forward to. It was the age for every vault 101 resident to gain the card to their very own apartment. She'd always dreamed of living on her own, not being weighted down by the chores her father gave her... But now with this plan being enforced by the Overseer, she was dreading the day. She wasn't going to get her own apartment, she was being moved into the apartment Butch had the luxury of living in for six months beforehand, a used, Butch apartment.

So you could understand her sick feeling when she awoke to the special day from her alarm. Her lids were weighted down - she hadn't gotten any sleep the night before, or any other night for that matter, with the upcoming fear of future bullying from Butch always trailing her, she just wished she could remain living with her father. But today was the day, and already she could hear her father greet the Overseer at the front door, a signal she had to get the heck out of bed.

She clambered into her blue jumpsuit, zipping it up to her neck, quickly lacing her black boots tightly against her shins, fixing her hair, and sighed deeply. As of late she'd been practicing with her bb gun, knowing one day Butch was going to come at her and before he could ever lay a hand on her she'd shoot him somewhere not-so-serious so he'd get the point. She only thing left to do was find a hiding spot for it in her new shared apartment.

Nodding to herself in the mirror, she drew in a deep breath. "This is it." She hadn't seen Butch since their encounter after the grande vault meeting. She wasn't sure if it had been enough time for him to cool off or if it was time for his anger to broil over so once her father and the Overseer left he'd get payback for her remarks. "Let's just hope he'll only come at me with mean words. I can do this, Janis.."

"Janis, sweetie, are you awake?" Her father questioned from the other side of the door with a few knocks against the metal surface, voice wavering.

"Y-yeah, hold on a sec!" She glanced back in the mirror. "If he does lay a hand on me, I'll get his ass sent to a cell." With a nod, she left her bedroom.

"Ah, Ms. Hobbs. Congratulations on your eighteenth birthday, it's a tremendous day!"

"Yes, Happy Birthday sweetheart." James kissed the top of his daughters head gently.

"I suppose you could call it tremendous." No, you can't. But of course she didn't expect him to understand until Amata reached her own eighteenth birthday. "Shouldn't I pack my things?"

"There will be time for that later. Now, we must introduce you to your new home!" Alphonse had led the way, once he was out of the door Amata's face had suddenly appeared with a gentle heart-warming smile.

"Hey, happy birthday.." It should have been a happy day, Amata knew that, and she would have felt rude if she didn't address her best friends birthday. "I know it's not very celebratory, but we'll make-do, alright? I got you this gift, but only open it when you're alone, okay?"

Janis wrapped her fingers around the small wrapped box with a timid smile and nodded. "Alright. Thanks Amata. Wish me luck, I'm moving into the dragons den."

With a hug, Amata did just that, sending Janis and James on their way to Butch's apartment down the hall. Here we go. Butch was at the end of the hall with his mother to his left, looking at them with a friendly face. As they approached Ellen took a step out and engulfed Janis in a surprisingly warm hug, letting go a few seconds later with a warm smile. Probably because she was ecstatic that this new plan only ensured her only child would give her grand-children. She didn't seemed too peeved with her current situation, though, since she was thirty-four and expected by the overseer to at least have one more child before she 'expires.'

Butch still didn't look all too happy though, as he wouldn't even glance in Janis' direction, fists shoved into his pockets and a sour look upon his face. Before he could catch a glance at her present from Amata, she slid it into her jumpsuit pocket gently as the Overseer began to speak.

"Well, here we are. The first same age pairing in the plan, and possibly the first parents to contribute to our vaults success?"

"You wish."

Ellen sighed and nudged her sons arm with her elbow. "Butchie.." He looked even more angered when that baby-name was uttered, craning his neck around to give her a look. It looked almost as if he had warned her beforehand not to call him that in front of people, so she smiled feebly. "Sorry."

James turned toward Janis with a large, proud smile adorning his face, gently grabbing her shoulders and giving them a gentle squeeze. "It may not be the way you expected, but you're finally eighteen - an official adult as of Vault standards. It seems like only yesterday you were born, and now you're moving out."

"It's not like I'll always be gone, dad, I'm still interning at the clinic." She chuckled lightly as she gave her father a hug. Though the next time I'll be at the clinic it'll probably be because I'll need to be patched up. "And it's only down the hall, I'm more than likely going to bump into you more than once."

"Yes, I suppose you could put it that way. You know, your mother would be so proud if she were still here today."

"I know, you've been telling me that for the past week."

Alphonse cleared his throat. "There's nothing left to say except welcome to your new home, Janis. I have a number of things I need to tend to." With that, the Overseer had excused himself and briskly clicked down the hallway.

James casually stuck his hands into the pockets of his pristine white lab coat with a gentle smile. "Well, you know I'm needed back at the clinic soon, so I'll be on my way as well. I'll let you get settled in. I'll be seeing you later for your clocked hours, I presume?"

"Yeah, I'll be there dad." He nodded and swiveled around, pacing down the hallway swiftly. Ellen was speaking to Butch, and since Janis wasn't rude, she didn't eavesdrop on the conversation, walking passed the two and toward the open door to Butch's apartment - their now shared apartment. She was expecting an explosion of mess everywhere, graffiti on the walls, broken light fixtures, illegal things scattered about, but when she stepped foot into the apartment, she was actually pleasantly surprised.

It was clean. It looked like a regular apartment, with just a hint of Butch! She licked her lips and rubbed her arms as she took a step further into the apartment, glancing around curiously. Draped over the arm of the couch was a tunnel snakes jacket with a half sewn on snake on the back and a few studs on the side table, waiting to be attached to the leather. Other than that project he had going on, there wasn't much else that looked out of the ordinary. He'd turned eighteen roughly six months ago so she thought by now he would have spiced the place up. She peeked through the metal shutters that were slightly drawn, peeking at Butch and his mother talking, bickering at each other before they went their separate ways, neither of them looking as if they were to enter the apartment.

"Time to snoop." She pressed the button on one side of a closed door, revealing his bathroom. "Ah, here's the mess.." Product everywhere. Product filling the counter top, product in the shower shelves, even product in the medicine cabinet. Upon further investigation it was mostly half empty containers of pomade, ranging from different tube sizes to little tubs. Among the counter top mess were a variety of razors and aftershave, the many bottles of the scent were uncapped and probably missing. She sighed. If there was one thing she hated was clutter, but she was not about to go and clean up after a grown man, so she left the bathroom mildly disgusted but before the door could close, she noticed how the toilet seat was up, and she groaned.

Next she lingered into the bedroom where the apartment's only bed was since the other rooms were empty, waiting to be filled with nursery items and such. It seemed Butch also did not like to make his bed, as his duvet and sheets were askew atop the mattress. His hamper was overflowing with blue jumpsuits and worn white t-shirts, and once she slid open the closet door, all she was met with was black. Not black as in emptiness and a lack of lighting within the small space, but about ten hung up leather jackets, which were cool to the touch as she moved them along the rod. "Hm." She guessed he stole them since it's not regulation to have this many jackets in possession. She strolled over to the desk on the other side of the room with a grimace. "I bet he's never used this thing." She joked as she took a seat, tapping her fingernails against the metal. There was a framed photo of him and his mother when he was younger. He was frowning quite visibly but his mother had a large smile, and although her eyes were sunken and dark, she looked remotely happy with her arms wrapped around his shoulders from behind. It was a chillingly sweet picture, really, because oftentimes when Butch and his mother were in the same vicinity he tried his best to get the hell away from her.

The rest of the bedroom was ordinary, she supposed. On his bedside table there was a rough sketch of the tunnel snakes logo and a comb, and that was about it. "Time for this gift..." She reached into her pocket and brought out the small box, wrapped delicately by the precise Amata, who just loved those small ornate details she was known for. Janis pulled on the small bow and gently took apart the yellow wrapping paper to reveal a small brown box. Lid raised, the first thing she saw was a pink note.

_Janis. First and foremost, this has to be kept a secret. I stole this from my fathers weapon locker, and don't worry, he shares the locker with the security guards so if he notices its absence, he would just assume they needed a new one. One you were paired with Butch the only thing I could remember was the day of the G.O.A.T. exam, where you stood up for me against those damned tunnel snakes, you even took a beating for it. But now it's my time to pay you back for that, even if it's not direct to their gang. Please only use it in a drastic situation, you know how Butch can get. Love your best friend, Amata._

She set the note down and fished around in the white tissue paper until she felt it.

Janis wrapped his fingers around the small thing and smiled deviously when she pulled it out, holding it before her hazel eyes. It was a state of the art taser, only carried by the higher ranking security officers in vault 101. It was beautiful, really it was. It shone underneath the dull light of the bedroom, it's yellow warning stickers shining brightly more than anything. "Oh Amata, you always know what I need." Before Butch could return home, she tucker it into her jumpsuit, wiggled around to make sure it would stay put, and casually strode out of the room.

Boy was she thankful she could get the hell out of there and get back to somewhere she knew was safe - the clinic. Well, it was decently safe. The tunnel snakes were in there more than often but never seemed to be there for trouble, just to get patched up. She hoped Butch hadn't wandered off to go pick a fight because he was the last person she wanted to see while having time to herself.

She skimmed through some notes on her terminal in the clinic, idly memorizing different illness' and their cures when James had walked in. "Hey sweetie, I had a box delivered to your room for when you pack up."

With one last click, she glanced over her shoulder with a small smile. "Thanks."

"I was wondering if you could run some stimpaks to the rec. room for me, which is where Andy is currently situated. He has lower than minimal supply and I need them there asap. I'd do it myself but me and Jonas are working through an experiment at the moment." He set down a small cardboard box filled to the brim.

"Yeah, sure." She scooted off the chair in front of her desk and paced over to the table. "Anything else?"

"No, that's all. Be back here to tend to any patients afterward, though."

With a nod, she heaved the box upward and began her journey. The rec room wasn't too far away, just down the hall and take two lefts. Easy. She made it into the rec room where two groups of people were currently situated. She paid no mind as she paced over to Andy and set the box down upon the counter in front of him. "Hey Andy, I've got the stimpaks you need."

"Oh thank you Miss Hobbs!" The robot thanked her enthusiastically as he wiped down the counter with one of his arms with a grey cloth, another hand tinkering with the red and white striped fridge behind the counter. "Can I offer you a refreshment as a thank you?"

"Oh no, I'm good Andy, thanks." She gave him a slight wave before turning on her heels, eyes immediately locking with another set of eyes. It was Susie Mack, was was sitting at the counter with Monica and Janice by her side, the other two girls off in conversation while Susie absolutely stared her down. She heard the rumors of Susie's undying hate toward Janis solely for the fact that she was currently crushing on Butch, apparently over Freddie now, and seethed for days after she wasn't chosen as Butch's match.

Janis rolled her eyes and continued walking past the obsession driven girls, turned toward the doorway to leave, and was expectantly stopped. It was non other than the vaults two delinquents, Wally Mack and Paul Hannon, both blocking the doorway with stupidly smug grins on their faces. "Can you move?" She questioned them reasonably, hoping they were more interested in playing a game of pool than picking a fight with her, but when they ceased all movement and stared down at her she knew she was in for it.

"I don't think so, nerd." Wally chided with a dry chuckle, stomping his foot in front of her, silencing the rec room. Paul stayed silent. He was never really the instigator of the three, level-headed, and would sometimes show remorse. But right now, as Janis saw it, he was completely fine for a two on one fight it seemed.

"That's original." She grumbled as she moved side to side to try and find an opening between the men, but both had impossibly broad shoulders, easily blocking any escape attempts with ease. She tried to push her way past said shoulders but failed miserably, as she realized they were jacked and weighed a lot more than she did. "Just get out of my way, I have stuff to do."

"You're cruisin' for a bruisin you dumb bitch." Wally snarled with a grin as he stepped forward.

This is it. She told herself as she mentally noted the quickest path to her taser, which was waiting for a target. It's preferable target was Butch when he felt like he needed to punch something and she was the nearest thing to him, but if Wally and Paul were in the mood for a brawl and said brawl was odd numbered she was going to have to use it.

She was so close to darting her hand into her jumpsuit when two hands suddenly appeared, clasping onto both Wally and Paul's shoulders, Butch magically appearing behind them with a cigarette idly dangling from between his lips. Before they even had time to question why he wasn't in on this earlier, Butch smacked both of their heads together, earning a roar of cursing and groaning.

"What the fuck was that?!" Wally sneered, rubbing at the shaved side of his head, lips curled downward into a nasty frown. Both of them looked at him, the Serpent King, Butch, as he gave them both dirty looks, as if he could see how truly idiotic these two were.

"Will you two skids knock it off, huh?" Again, he had his hands back into the pockets of his jumpsuit, leather jacket fully zipped down. "We've got better things to do."

"What the hell's gotten into you, huh?" Paul added bitterly as he also began to rub at his head. "Think cause she's your future baby mama we have to respect her or some shit?"

Butch removed the almost dead cigarette from his mouth, and as she's seen before, pressed the burning end to the collar of Pauls jumpsuit. "Like I said, you two better knock it off or you're gonna be cruisin' for a bruisin', got me?" Nobody in the rec room were surprised in the slightest. The three of them were always in altercations with each other, even pulling out the 'big guns' and knife fighting until the dispute was handled, so this was just baby play for them. What surprised Janis more was that Butch, although not directly stopping this for her benefit, stopped his fellow gang members in such a way from doing something they normally did.

Maybe he's saving the first punch for later. She thought, and when Wally and Butch were in the middle of bickering, they left an opening in the doorway and in an instant, she was gone in a hurry.

She returned back to her notes on the terminal, anxiety levels rising. She was certain there was going to be an altercation when they would be in the apartment at the same time. Chewing her nails absentmindedly, she'd occasionally glance up at the clock and with each passing second went an hour it seemed. Her father clocked her out and ushered her home, telling her she'd have to pack quickly before curfew was set in place. She saw the plastic tub in the middle of her room, void of anything, waiting for her items to be loaded.

She gathered all of her personal items on her bed to sort through what she wanted to bring and what she could leave behind - wanting to leave behind more precious items so Butch couldn't steal or break them. "Do I take or leave the BB gun.." She tapped her chin as she thought through it. "Self defense, but if found could possibly be used against me.." She huffed. "I'll leave you here." She got on her knees and slid the gun beneath her soon to be old bed.

She packed her clothing items, those being her white tank tops, blue jumpsuits, and few different colored sweaters for when the vault was especially chilly. She rested a few books and nick-knacks atop before blowing a strand of blonde hair out of her face. "Dad, I'll be going now." She teased as she paced into the living room, where her father was diligently reading a book on God knows what. "Oh - wait."

She carefully set the box down before darting into her old bedroom and returning with a soft duvet that was always on her bed. "Can't leave this.." She explained, placing it in the box before heaving it up again, blowing yet another piece of hair out of her face.

James smiled as he removed his reading glasses from his face, setting them down on the red hardcover of his book with a small sigh. "This is officially it. My first night without having to hear you snore-"

"-as if."

He chuckled. "Tell me, why are you taking that blanket?"

"Well, seeing as how I'll be sleeping on the couch and Butch probably wouldn't take too kindly to having no blankets, I thought I may as well bring my own."

"Ah." He fidgeted his fingers around. "If anything happens-"

"I know. We'll sort through it. I thought I may as well leave you with the tidbit of information that I have two illegal weapons in my possession, well I'm leaving the BB gun under my bed here. Amata gave me a taser she stole from the weapons locker.. So maybe you can put some concern away."

"That does make me feel slightly better I suppose. Tell me how your first night it tomorrow when you clock in, alright?"

"Alright. Sounds good."

He nodded as she paced toward the door. "Goodnight, and I love you."

"Love you too."

She set her box of items down in the middle of the living room, stretching out her back afterwards with a sigh of relief. She poked around a little bit and realized Butch seemingly hadn't been home all day, and was bound to be home sooner or later since curfew was impending. "Alright, well..." Seeing as how she and Butch were not going to be sharing a bedroom like the plan had originally intended, she had no access to the dresser in there, and going in there every morning while he was sleeping wasn't something she wanted to do, so she pushed the box so it was neatly covered underneath the arm of the couch. "Home sweet home."

She sighed with a slight frown as she took a seat on the couch, beginning to unbuckle her vault standard boots, setting them underneath the large wooden coffee table. Quickly, she slid out of her jumped and into her yet again vault standard sweatpants and fresh white tank top, sneakily hiding the taser between the couch cushions. Now crawling atop the cushions of the couch, she draped the duvet that smelled of home over her body and curled up, only her eyes peeking out, watching the front door just as diligently as her father was reading.

She wanted to be ready.

Around ten minutes later the dim red lights of curfew shone outside, only visible through the slight cracks in the metal shutters. She licked her lips. "Anytime now Mr. DeLoria, anytime.." He never came within ten minutes, so she allowed herself just a few minutes of shuteye when nearly half an hour had passed. She was so close to dozing off when a figure passed in front of the blinds. "Butch.." She hissed to herself silently as she could hear the swipe of his card and the door loudly creaked open, his figure silhouetted against the dull red glow. He looked menacing, scary, horrifying, to the point of sending shivers down her spine. Her fingers dug into the cushions until the tips dusted against the cold metal of the taser, the door now slowly sliding shut behind him.

Silence and being unable to see anything clearly were not two things she ever wanted to have put together. But she heard him take a few steps over to the wall and slowly, the small sounds of clicking were emitted, the clicking which belonged to the living rooms light dial. He stopped when there was just enough light to see each other.

"You still awake?" He questioned as he took a step to the side to get a glimpse of her eyes, and once he did, a cold, hard stare off ensued. "Yeesh, you look demented in this light." He rolled his eyes as he touched the dial once more until darkness enveloped them once more.

His boots brought him closer to her, yet oddly stopped only in front of his bedroom door until it swirled open and in a moment, swirled shut. All it was were a few words? No no, that can't be right. He's got to come back. Immediately she leaped out of her nest of blankets and pressed her ear to the coldness of his metal door. All she could hear through the thickness was the rustling of his clothes being changed, the presumable sound of his switchblade hitting the dresser top, and the sound of him getting into bed. She could also smell the faintness of a lit cigarette.

She sighed.

It wasn't like she was wanting it, but she'd rather it be done sooner than later. She drug her feet back over to the uncomfortable couch and fell into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

_thanks for the kudos and comments! love it!  
_


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